As always, Vlad — and Marcus Aurelius — lead the way.
I’m fond of quoting this line from Robert Frost:
“The best way out is always through.”
Yet sometimes it’s not…
Sometimes it takes a Roman emperor to remind me otherwise:
“The impediment to action advances action.
What stands in the way becomes the way.”
Last Sunday, with the “gentle” nudging of my new book’s marketing team, I filmed a video with Vlad for the SGR Journal, one that incorporated the current Spider-Man meme.
The pose is actually nearly effortless for me.
Getting Vlad to stay on his mark and not get overly involved in my gymnastics, much less so.
The location is on the path for both our morning and early evening walks, territory he knows quite well.
Why I was pausing to do this was therefore perhaps even more baffling.
Even so, I think his cinematic career is more or less assured.
Meanwhile, amidst this outdoor inversion, another unusual event occurred.
An extraordinary opportunity arrived during what I might euphemistically refer to as “a highly compressed cash-flow moment.”
A few months ago, during what was at best a half-hearted attempt to explore LinkedIn, a new Harvard Business School program appeared in my feed.
I was surprised by how aligned it was with the wellness project my partners and I have been developing.
In brief, Harvard Business School recently launched Foundry, an AI-native initiativewhose first Startup Bootcamp cohort begins this August.
I’d honestly totally forgotten about it — I have LinkedIn amnesia — but then, to my great surprise, I got accepted.
The catch: although highly selective, Harvard is definitely not free … and the payment was due on Friday.
The next morning, mere feet from where we filmed, Vlad and I were startled to find that a tree had fallen directly on our path.
(I swear multiple repetitions of my Spider-Man jumps while filming had no connection to this incident!)
Since this must have happened overnight, I couldn’t help but think of the familiar Zen koan:
“If a tree falls in the forest
and no one hears it, does it make a sound?”
A philosophy student might use this inquiry as a tool to question the idea of objective reality versus perception.
Essentially, it asks if something can exist independently of anyone experiencing it.
Like many koans, the question is designed to be a little frustrating, since ultimately both answers can be true, while neither one fully captures reality.
And — taking it even further — perhaps exploring the roots of that very human desire to settle an unanswerable question might even be the more interesting inquiry.
I, however, took another lesson.
I was curious how Vlad would respond to the tree.
Would he even notice the tree blocking the way … would he gleefully jump over it?
iPhone at the ready, I filmed our morning adventure below (note: the video opens in the app or on the website) HERE:
Two things about his reaction stood out for me.
First, that after a few seconds of observation, he opted to simply walk around it.
Second, that he seized the opportunity to add a little touch of joy to the moment, bursting into a mini sprint before we continued on our way.
My own reaction to setbacks is usually less straightforward and more nonplussed.
Rarely, if ever, do they add a little extra skip to my step.
Yet, bolstered by that Marcus Aurelius quote — which inspired the title of Ryan Holiday’s book about applying Stoic philosophy, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph — for once, I reconsidered.
In The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday offers the classic example of Demosthenes.
According to Plutarch, Demosthenes began as a terrible orator.
Initially, he had an indistinct, mumbling delivery, a weak voice, and insufficient breath control.
Refusing to give up, he trained by reciting with pebbles in his mouth, speaking while running or climbing steep ground, and practicing against the roar of the sea.
He not only overcame his obstacles; he deliberately created new ones — and definitely got in the reps (this month’s theme, meditation HERE) — transforming himself into one of the greatest orators of ancient Greece.
Perhaps I could do the same, using a sudden unplanned expense to my cash flow advantage.
One of my favorite creative clients is (quite literally) a rocket scientist who’s been on leave for many months.
I reached out — sharing the Harvard Business School opportunity, both its potential and its challenges.
I offered a favorable version of the package we’d previously discussed, with the flexibility to begin later, when convenient.
I did the same for another favorite designer client and another writer who’ve been orbiting as well.
I revealed the obstacle, in other words, using what ChatGPT called “controlled vulnerability.”
Within a few hours, everyone said “Yes.”
Astonishingly, for once, problem immediately solved.
I’m loving the book we’re reading in the Transformation Book Club this month, The Power of Kabbalah, based on the teachings of Rav Berg.
(You can join us by upgrading to a paid subscription HERE.)
In particular, a lot of Law of Attraction material tends to suggest that when a tree falls on your path, you’ve done something wrong.
You’re “out of alignment” — whatever that means.
Kabbalah views things quite differently.
The more challenges we face, the more chances we have to plug into the Light.
The greater the number of triggers igniting our reactions, the more we can resist and transform them.
After all, transforming is the purpose of our life, and only an obstacle can give us that opportunity.
This week, that proved to be true.
I wouldn’t have written to the Rocket Scientist (or the others) had I not suddenly needed to pay for a Harvard Business School program.
In a single afternoon, what blocked the path became the path.
And maybe — for this week at least — rather than provoking my usual cosmic consternation, this challenge has added a tiny skip to my step just as the fallen tree did for Vlad.
Maybe I’m getting a little better as I move forward through the woods — not just at sidestepping the obstacles on my path, but embracing them as part of the way.
Tell A New Story. Transform Your Life.